Guardian Ranger
by Rowana Renee
Summary: What happens when Halt winds up raising Will from a younger age than expected? Read and find out! Features Gilan as well! Boldface fixed, by the way!
1. Prologue

Before anything else, I'd like to thank the following people for reviewing this story such a long time ago:

Rosetta Eclipse padfootlover14 linguisticsrock xXRebelXRoseXx Captain Lindsey Storm-Horse101 GreenFire ShadowWolf thing1966 134213 Wu Foxglade Maui Girl 808 Iceqbz Wing Commander Arnica Vinyaya Halt's Apprentice What Story Will I Fall Into HikariNoTenshi-San Gilans Apprentice The-Saddest-Of-Them-All The Author Number Two rangergilan Miss Panopticon Demonic-Kat Ducks R Evil shebacatb10 Alycee Lanet Katydid50 shoeychocolatXD FOXABU88 TsumetaiYuuki Krimsha Deltoraquestlover izzybizzy333 TasteTheRainbow-xD They Call Me Alex flaminglake Snow Angel5466 RejectedByMostButLovedByAll NinjaWafflePublishingCo Joelle Blckhawk xOut-Of-This-Worldx Alyys Mainwaring Lady Faucheur TempestStormBFFofMax MADDIEdimkaDUCKY Escallibur Dautr abr du Sundavar The Flame in All of Us Mourningstar13 livininadream Grava Caramel Cheescake Blue1221 Alyko Totallytwistedwords Jackieawesomebookworm2468 Texas1 Are you Crying Samurai Lila Nightengale 3LW00D Dodo.123 Zaber3 Azlarok Tolkien buddy w The Heart's Tear nine-orcids Rockn The Sk8n Floor Crazy909 Konri Kari sneaky lunitic spy RainbowBubble1 random4ever Kangarooney MidnightBloom17 geek179 Wildstar of Windclan Cmpteraddict Cosmia Personlady Let's Play Funeral runningwithhorses crystalpurity Cirruz The Night Elf MHplayer749 Kstar101 Pixie Star Fire AnAddictedReader chickenchick AdvanceShipper4Eva RoMythe Blaze of Awesome Glory Elvish Ranger Apprentice mangatiger Rydd Rider

And a personal thank-you to anyone who takes it upon themselves to read this story now that it's new again.

I sincerely hope you all enjoy this upgraded version of my old story, and that as many of you review as did before. The main point of this story, the first time it was written, was to be as interactive as possible without breaking the rules, so please, if any of you have any ideas of something you would like to see, don't hesitate to tell me ^:^

The sun hadn't quite gone down yet, but the air was already taking on an almost frigid nature. Rain fell gently from the sky, more drizzling than pouring. It had been a dreary day, and looked like it would be a dreary night as well.

No one was out on the road- no one in their right mind would be, unless they had to- but one person, on horseback, making his way slowly up the road toward a set of hills in the distance.

One look at this person and one would know that he was dog-tired. His eyes spoke of weariness, though they were bright and alert. He seemed to have trouble keeping his head up, and he bore a haunted expression. He wasn't a knight returning from war; that much was obvious from his size alone.

No, this rider wasn't particularly large of muscle, or broad of shoulder. He had a slim build, and a vaguely short stature that was obvious, even as he sat astride the horse. There was something foreign about him, lingering in his dark, hazel eyes, or perhaps somewhere beyond that. His face was still young, but just beginning to show signs of age. He had been through something, obviously enough, and it was evidenced by his untrimmed beard and unkempt hair, which was just visible beneath the mantle of his cloak.

He was no knight, to be sure. His weapons were of a different nature entirely. He wore two knives, and a bow was slung carefully across his lap, with a quiver of arrows at his back.

This man was a ranger.

But it wasn't his occupation that was interesting, but the one-armed ride he was accomplishing.

He held the reins in one hand, but the other was occupied with keeping a small bundle still. A difficult task, given that the contents of said bundle were squirming, hard, a motion which was accompanied by the shrill cry of a baby.

The man glared at the bundle, ignoring the darting pangs of guilt that ran through him- had been running constantly through him since he'd acquired this charge of his- and held the child a little more tightly.

"Hush, lad," he growled, "you're going to be dropped."

This, of course, did nothing to stop the child from screaming. He was a newborn, after all, and had only been fed once, hours ago at that.

The ranger wasn't likely to confess, but he was worried, beyond worried, even. He didn't know much on the subject, but he was almost certain that children, having been just born, were meant to be fed much more often than this.

It did no good, at the moment, to worry over it, though, and the man resulted to chiding the boy weakly. "You'll eat soon, as soon as we reach Redmont," he assured. His voice was a deep, soothing octave, a soft rumble that calmed the boy, if only for a moment.

The lad stopped crying, but continued to squirm, albeit more peacefully, against the man's grip. Whether looking for comfort or, more quietly, begging for food, it wasn't clear, but the man was content to let him until they reached their destination.

Given that the fellow was determined not to stop, they reached Redmont just after the sun had gone down.

The city itself bore obvious signs of a fief that had gone to war. Many of the women were dressed in black, and there were no children to be seen outside. Old men leaned against fence posts, muttering darkly to each other.

There were scarcely any young men about; they were all away, had been away for some time, fighting against Morgarath.

The sight would soon improve, the ranger knew; the war was over, and news had already reached this fief and every other that had been involved. But war took a heavy toll on all, and it would be some time before true life returned. It would begin with the men arriving home, and, gradually, the victory would be evident, rather than subdued.

People beholding the returning ranger were heard to gasp, getting out of his way as quickly as possible. Many of them fixed him with a wary eye, many of them seemed afraid.

The man ignored them, riding into the castle courtyard, stopping near the door and dismounting carefully, so as not to injure the child. Once on his feet, the man held the boy in both arms, instead of only one, but not before giving his horse a firm pat and speaking softly to the animal.

He nodded to a servant, who had already been hovering near the door as he arrived, and jerked his head toward the horse. "See that Abelard's fed and watered," he said, and the servant nearly tripped over his own feet trying to obey quickly.

Everyone was afraid of rangers, a fact the man had long-since gotten well-used to.

He left the horse with the servant and entered the castle, noting that the baby, who had been asleep for the better part of the last few hours, was beginning to stir again.

Breathing a sigh, he entered the castle, grateful for his cloak, which kept him from being noticed as he walked, hurriedly, toward his final stop before he could go home. He came to an abrupt halt, though, as he reached the foot of a staircase.

Glancing down at the sleeping boy, he cursed silently. Surely bringing a baby into the baron's chambers would be a terrible idea? He looked around rapidly, eyes eventually landing on a kind-looking woman who was just coming from the other end of a hallway.

He made his way to her, not waiting to see if she'd noticed him before he began speaking.

"Ma'am, can you-"

She gave a quiet shriek upon being so unexpectedly addressed, and turned to him with wide eyes.

He held the baby out toward her, lowering his voice slightly so as not to alarm her further. "Ma'am, this boy has been orphaned by the war. Will you take him?"

By her expression, he judged that he meant for her to actually adopt the boy.

"-as a ward of the castle," he amended swiftly, anxious to be about his business.

The woman, slightly taller than him, with dark brown hair pulled back into an untidy bun, and dull blue eyes, made a quiet sound in her throat and shook her head, a blush appearing on her cheeks as she realised her position. No one said no to a ranger, and yet, she had to. "I apologise, sir, but there have been so many orphaned, there's no room for another ward." She ducked her head, sincerity dripping from her words.

The ranger scowled, holding the baby close again. "And you can't _make_ room?" he asked, incredulous.

The woman shifted nervously, shaking her head again, but working up the nerve to come closer and run a finger daintily over the baby's face. She tilted her head slightly, cooing over the boy. "Aw, no sir, I am sorry, but you'll have to find something else to do with him."

The man, knowing he wouldn't get any further with her, nodded curtly and moved to go back to the stairs, but the woman called him back briefly.

"Oh, sir, I do hope you find somewhere for him; he seems a sweet young creature."

He ignored her, taking the stairs quickly, but silently. Occasionally, he would stop to make an attempt at handing the baby off to a servant, but half of the time, they simply brushed past him, not even stopping to see what he wanted.

Soon, he resigned to simply bringing the boy with him into the baron's office.

It wasn't a long trip, and it was one he was used to making.

The richly decorated building was full of servants and nobles, and of couriers and scribes about their various businesses. Constantly, someone was emerging from one doorway or another, and it was often the man found himself being bumped into. He thought, for a moment, that wearing his cloak had been a folly. But, at least the presence of the cloak meant that, upon spotting him, or touching him, people would realise who he was and hurry away at the greatest speed they could.

He reached the baron's office and entered, not bothering to knock first. It wasn't his custom to announce himself anywhere, unless it was absolutely necessary, and he didn't find it to be so this time either.

Barging into the private chambers of his superior, he carefully shifted the child, again, to one arm and used the other hand to push his hood back. The baron, having initially started upon finding his chambers invaded, relaxed upon seeing him.

"Ah, Halt, it's you," he said, beaming and moving forward, "good to see you again, at last!"

Halt nodded, once, in reply before making the baron aware of the bundle he held. The man frowned, his expression turning to sadness upon hearing the lad was an orphan. "Too many have been orphaned because of Morgarath," he hissed, "entirely too many."

Again, Halt nodded. "No less than five people have said he can't stay here."

Arald sighed, shrugging apologetically. "And I'm afraid they're right, Halt. Already we have too many wards, and because of the war we're low on provisions. Even if we could take him, and cared for him well, it wouldn't be well enough for one that small."

The ranger grimaced, looking down at the boy, who was then fully awake. The lad squirmed once, then stilled, looking at Halt through wide blue eyes. There was a shock of brown hair as well, sticking in odd directions from his earlier flailing. Now, though, his attention seemed to be fully captured by the man holding him.

Halt blinked and looked up at Arald. "Then what do you suggest I do with him? I promised his mother he would be cared for."

"I could," the baron began, sounding a touch uncertain, "I could find him a temporary place, with the family of one of my farmers. They're poor, and most of them already have children, but they shouldn't mind an additional youngling for another year or two."

Halt raised an eyebrow. "And then? A year or two isn't long enough to raise a lad to adulthood."

Arald rolled his eyes. "Well…then we'll have to find somewhere else to put him, unless they agree to adopt. Then again, in two years, Redmont should be near fully recovered from war, and we may well have the means to raise him here."

Halt looked down at the boy again, uncomfortable with deciding his future. He'd thought he could just leave him here and not have to worry, but if he would be going to live with a farming family- they were hard enough pressed to care for their own children, let alone an orphan whose parents they had never met. And yet, if two years proved to be long enough to get something more permanent set up among the baron's wards, it would be more than worth it.

The man nodded slowly, not taking his eyes off the lad, the son of the man who had saved his life. "And you're sure one of the farmers will be willing?"

Arald shrugged again, grinning. "They can't all say no, and children are at their best between the ages of newborn and two years; every woman in the village will want him."

"Not if they saw me carrying him," the ranger murmured.

"What's that?" the baron looked confused, Halt's comment having been too soft for him to hear.

Halt glanced up at him, shaking his head. "Nothing."

The baron nodded once, more a bob of the head than anything else, and exited the room for a moment, motioning for Halt to stay. "And have a seat;" he called back, "you look dead on your feet, man!"

So Halt sat, albeit on the very edge of a chair. His arms were, admittedly, tired from holding the baby for such a long time, and it was a welcome reprieve to lay the child in his lap instead. The boy continued to stare at him, eyes wide and curious already.

Halt closed his eyes and breathed deep, the feeling of being back in his own fief finally sinking in, along with a feeling of relief. Now that the war was over, he could go back to training his apprentice and be left in relative peace for a while. Not that he didn't appreciate a good adventure; it was just that he was already worn out from his previous one.

He was hardly aware of nodding off, before the feeling of something being wrong forced his eyes open.

Looking all directions, the ranger looked for any form of danger that might be present. Finding none, he looked down at the baby in his lap.

The boy's lip was quivering, and his eyes were swimming with tears. Not a good sign, as far as Halt's current experience reminded him. The lad was about to begin shrieking for food again.

Halt didn't know why the feeling of panic flared in his chest, or what possessed him to begin bouncing the boy gently on his knees, attempting to calm him. All that did was make it worse, really, and fat tears began to roll.

Alarmed, Halt did the only thing he could think of as the boy opened his mouth to wail; he offered a finger instead.

Said finger was immediately latched onto with surprising force, and both of the lad's small hands wrapped demandingly around it.

The lad almost seemed to give Halt a brief look of betrayal upon discovering that the finger wasn't actually food, but settled down nonetheless.

Halt sighed in relief, closing his eyes again with the crisis averted.

He was awakened yet again when Arald burst back into the room with all the force of a thunderstorm, in Halt's opinion. The man was followed by a maid, who saw the baby and began cooing over him instantaneously, scarcely pausing for the ranger to extract his finger from the lad's mouth before scooping the baby up into a warm embrace and rocking him gently.

The boy instantly went from barely avoiding crying, to  
smiling brightly.

Halt was dumbfounded.

The woman beamed, glancing between Halt and Baron Arald. "Who's this sweetheart you've found, then?" she asked, allowing the child to play with her fingers.

Arald looked like he was about to reply, but stopped short. "Er…Halt? Does he have a name?"

A flood of memories struck the ranger, almost hard enough to take his breath away. He nodded ascent, remembering the mother's dying words. He watched the boy and saw his father, as he spoke, eyes burning with a debt he was determined to pay. "Will," he replied, "his name is Will."

I know several of you weren't here when this story was originally being posted, so you don't know what's coming for Halt and Will, but for those of you who do remember, the whole thing has changed, but not so drastically as to alter the plot. Everything that happened is going to happen again, but with greater detail, characterisation, and everything. Think of this as Guardian Ranger in High Def ^:^

Anyways, thank you to the new readers and old, and hope that those of you who remember this story enjoy it as much as you seemed to the first time around, and the new readers will enjoy it as well ^:^


	2. Chapter One

The woman took young Will from the room, to feed him and arrange a place for the lad to sleep until a suitable- if temporary- home could be found. Halt, meanwhile, remained in the baron's office to discuss how he had come to have the child in the first place. Arald quickly noticed, however, that the ranger was in a rather dead-on-his-feet state, and ordered him home almost right after the woman and boy had left the room.

As for Halt, he was more than happy to be getting back to his cabin- and his apprentice.

Gilan had done well enough in Halt's absence, but an apprentice needed their mentor, and it wouldn't do for the ranger to stay away any longer than he absolutely had to. Besides that, he had missed that skinny, impetuous, over-eager monster that had followed him into the woods so long ago. The boy was like a son to him, in more ways than one.

He found Abelard freshly groomed and ready for him, and he made sure to thank the stable-hand before mounting the horse quickly and setting off for home. The windows of the cabin were lit, meaning that Gilan was up late, later than he ought to be.

Halt wasn't hard-pressed to find a reason for his apprentice being suddenly nocturnal- odds were the boy had waited up every night since hearing that his mentor would soon be home. It was a gesture the ranger could appreciate, even if he would pretend annoyance at it.

He rubbed Abelard's neck as he neared the cabin, allowing for a rare smile as he saw the smoke coming from the chimney. "Welcome home," he murmured, and Abelard tossed his mane in seeming agreement.  
_

Halt was surprised Gilan managed to rein in his excitement as long as he did, but he was able to install Abelard in the stable next to Blaze, walk up to the door, and begin to open it before chaos broke loose.

The door was wrenched open before Halt's hand could quite touch it, and he found himself reeling backwards as he was tackled about the middle by his apprentice. The boy was babbling so quickly his words could hardly be understood, hugging his mentor so hard that it almost hurt.

Halt growled to himself, but eventually freed his arms from the lad's embrace long enough to return it awkwardly, after which he squirmed out of the grip entirely and raised an eyebrow at his apprentice. "Mistake me for a lady friend?" he asked, keeping his voice as blunt as possible.

Gilan, shifting his weight from foot to foot- not with nervousness, but rather just restlessness- met Halt's gaze evenly, excitement still shining in his eyes. He was nearly as tall as his mentor, and would most likely be taller than him at some point. He grinned wolfishly, shaking his head. "I knew it was you when you got to the porch," he replied, looking pleased with himself.

Halt felt a small flicker of pride. "And how did you do that? Recognise footsteps now?"

Gilan shook his head again, moving aside so Halt could enter the cabin. "No, actually…I just looked out the window."

Any other day, Halt would have uttered a groan of despair and flashed a long-suffering look to the sky, but for now it was just good to be back.

_Two years later…_

The baron respected Halt, knew better than to summon him like a servant to the castle, but it didn't hurt for the man to stop by once in a while, and they both knew it. So it was that, a week in advance, Arald sent a letter to the ranger, requesting his presence in regards to 'special business' that needed- desperately needed, he bothered to include- to be seen to.

Halt didn't mind; he counted the baron as a friend, in every sense of the word.

So, leaving Gilan to manage the cabin for a few hours, he approached the castle at his leisure, making his way to the baron's office as silently as a phantom. What he didn't expect, was what he found when he got there.

The baron was sitting at his desk, looking flustered and nervous, while Lady Pauline sat in a chair and bore a vaguely amused expression. What surprised Halt, though, was the child in Pauline's lap.

He had wide, brown eyes and familiar brown hair that looked rather ruffled, as if he'd just crawled out of bed. His clothes were rumpled, and he appeared to be squirming madly in her grasp.

Halt, raising an eyebrow, nodded to Pauline before turning to the baron, his expression saying everything the man needed to know about his thoughts.

"Er…" the man coughed, giving Halt an apologetic look, "I trust you remember young Will? The child you brought to us two years ago?"

Halt fixed his gaze on the boy, noting with a glimmer of annoyance that the child immediately shrank back against Pauline. "I remember," he said gruffly, wondering what on Earth Arald could be getting at.

Pauline smiled and gave the boy a gentle squeeze, murmuring for him to pay attention to his manners.

The baron appeared even more nervous, shifting in his seat and looking altogether uncomfortable as he tugged at the collar of his shirt. "Well," he said slowly, "There have been…ah…complications, with his arrangements." Catching Halt's general look of 'get to the point' he hurried along, "we still don't have any space for him here- we've got too many wards, and none of them are ready for any sort of Choosing Day."

Halt grunted understanding, but didn't see what this had to do with him. "And…?"

Arald tried to speak, but, being that he knew exactly how his words would be received, hesitated.

Pauline spoke for him. "He thought you could manage Will, since the farming family he was with lacks the means to properly care for a little one."

Halt almost felt his jaw drop. He didn't know if Arald was desperate, had lost his mind, or was simply an idiot. Did he, a ranger, give off an air that suggested he could take care of a child any better than a farming family could? He thought not, thought most assuredly not. His quirked eyebrow must have given that much away, because Arald hammered on, picking up where Pauline had left off.

"Come now, Halt, it won't be horrible. I'm not asking you to raise him to adulthood- only care for him until I can find another family to place him in. You know most of them are hard-pressed to deal with their own needs, while you'd be more than able to-"

Halt blinked. "I _am_ a ranger, Arald. You do realise that."

"I-" Arald came up short and nodded mutely.

Halt looked at Pauline, the boy, and back to Arald. "And I have an apprentice,"

Arald nodded again. "I know, Halt, I know, but I've nowhere else to put him, and I can't very well just ship him off to another fief."

Pauline stood up, bringing the boy with her, and moved closer to Halt. "And it's only temporary," she reminded him, "Just keep him for a few months-"

"Months?"

"-weeks," she amended, "and by then there should be space for him here."

The boy began squirming again, and before halt knew what had happened, there was a small hand tugging at his beard.

He narrowed his eyes, but fixed his gaze on Pauline. "Is he…trained…?"

Arald chuckled, but the resulting glare quieted him.

Pauline nodded quickly, pulling the boy's hand away. "Of course," she replied, "he's a little…rambunctious, but no worse than Gilan."

Halt almost sulked. "Have you not met Gilan?"

The boy was looking at him again, and he felt, suddenly, the same way he'd felt two years previously, when he'd brought the lad here on request of his mother. Part of him wanted to say yes, that he'd care for the lad, in order to pay off his debt to the boy's father. Another part of him wanted to say no, coming up with any excuse, not the least of which was the stigma the lad would grow up with, having been closely associated with a ranger.

Still, the feeling stirred in him until he couldn't ignore it, and he nodded at last. "Fine," he grumbled, "but only for a fortnight."

**A/N, I know this one is short and stupid, but I'm extremely pressed for time right now, and can only update on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays and wanted to post SOMETHING before another week goes by. I'll do an extra chapter next time to make up for it, or at least just add on to this one. **

**Really, don't hang me; I'm on a shared computer, and swamped with school stuff, so I'm juggling fandoms as best I can XD**


End file.
